In 1980, Mrs. Hart created witty Edwardian mouse costumes for the Pary Production Company's presentation of "Josephine the Mouse Singer." The one-act drama was adapted from a short story by Franz Kafka.

With only $750, she designed and produced costumes with wee mouse ears and tails for the play's 11 actors, winning her first Jeff Award for the impressive work.

Over four decades, her stunning designs graced the stages of countless Chicago theaters, including Next Theatre, Organic/Touchstone, Loyola University Theater, City Lit, Columbia College, New Tuners and Lifeline.

Mrs. Hart won two additional Jeff awards for her costumes in "Nightingale" produced at New Tuners in 1987 and "Mother Courage and Her Children," presented at Touchstone Theater in 1993.

Mrs. Hart, 64, died Sunday, April 10, of brain cancer in her Chicago home, said her husband, Larry.

Harriet Spizziri, friend and co-founder of Next Theatre Company in Evanston, said she was always amazed at Mrs. Hart's imagination and ingenuity when given little or no money for costumes.

Since Mrs. Hart didn't have a car, she was often seen carrying her grand costumes on the train from her Lincoln Park home to the theater.

"She was wonderful at taking charge and telling everyone that she knew exactly what to do," Spizziri said.

"I would see her getting off the 'L,' lugging these incredible costumes, and I couldn't believe it.

"She was like a magician."

Patricia McIntyre was born and raised in St Louis, where she attended Linden High School. Initially, she studied dance, with dreams of joining a ballet company.

She continued dance and theater study at the University of Denver, where she earned a theater degree in 1964. She then moved to Chicago and began studying costume design at the Goodman School of Drama, graduating in 1969.

There she also met sound designer Larry Hart, who became her collaborator and husband. They married in 1967.

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, the Harts became a legendary team in Chicago's off-Loop theater community, providing costumes, poster designs and sound effects for budget-strapped troupes.

In a 1981 Tribune interview, the petite redhead with the pixie haircut described her dedication to the struggling theater scene.

"Some of us live there. I spend most of my time in the dark. I never have a suntan!" she told the Tribune.

In the late 1970s, she began designing costumes for local television, notably WBBM-TV's "The Magic Door."

Her debut in film came in 1986, when she was chosen by director John McNaughton to design costumes for "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer." From there, she continued with design and wardrobe credits for Universal Pictures, Vision Pictures and New Line Pictures.

In the 1990s, Mrs. Hart began teaching two courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Production Design for Theater and Film, and Masks and Mantles.

Away from the theater, Mrs. Hart engaged in a unique friendship with the gorillas at Lincoln Park Zoo. Over the last 20 years, she visited the gorillas daily, reading to them, eating lunch beside their glass cage and taking thousands of photos.

Last year, Spizziri filmed a short documentary, "Capture," on Mrs. Hart's relationship with the gorillas.

"What a wonderful friend she was to those animals. She had an unbelievable love for them," she said.

In addition to her husband, Mrs. Hart is survived by a son, Michael; her mother, Patricia McIntyre; and brothers Tom and Bob.